His Finest Student
by journeyman07
Summary: Ronon and Jennifer. This is my second Valentine's Day lj challenge fic, think there's one more to come. Please read and review, thanks.


Trying something a bit different at long last, please let me know what you think. This was inspired by 'Spoils of War', but there's no spoilers.

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Jennifer breathed out slowly, her heart hammering in her chest. It was so dark in the hive ship that she was unsure if some of the menacing shadows in her peripheral vision were Wraith soldiers or not. She tried hard to mentally map where they all stood.

'So this is the human who has evaded capture for so long?' a grating, hissing voice sounded in front of her.

Jen's heart nearly stopped. She took a sharp intake of breath.

A Queen.

Red, intense and hungry eyes stared down at her from what could only be described as a throne and a grotesquely fanged mouth opened and hissed in disgust.

'So small,' the female Wraith grimaced, 'just a girl, how can this girl have hidden on this ship for so long?!'

Jen felt, rather than saw, the several Wraith hidden in the shadows step forward as the Queen's anger escalated enough to urge her on her feet to inspect Jen more closely. Atlantis' doctor bit her lip, trying desperately not to shake too much and stood her ground as the tall Wraith stalked round her in a distinctly predator-like fashion. Jen could smell her now; the rotting, foul smell of something half dead and utterly non- human.

'Put her with the others!' the Queen commanded suddenly, clearly furious.

Jen followed her line of sight and could see then the cell off to her left and the outlines of what could only be Ronon, Sheppard and McKay. All three were sitting motionless, hands tied behind their backs.

OK, breathe and think, Jen told herself. Hidden under her jacket at her back was the reassuring cold metal of Ronon's pistol and she was still wearing her belt laden with the small but deadly knives he'd given her. You can do this; she thought firmly, you _can_ do this.

'Can she use that thing?' Sheppard whispered worriedly to Ronon, recognising the faint bulge at Jennifer Keller's back as the Satedan's pistol.

'Yeah,' Ronon replied, watching Jen intently, silently willing her to think clearly and put into practice everything he'd taught her these past few months.

'But is she any good?' Sheppard hissed.

'Yeah, she's all right,' came the taciturn reply, which didn't make Sheppard feel any better.

Jen held the map of her adversaries positions in her mind and slowed her breathing, focusing entirely on channelling all thought and energy into her reflexes. One Wraith soldier moved towards her; that was all the trigger she needed.

In a whirl of decisive motion, she unsheathed knife after knife, flinging them forcefully and with deadly accuracy at her assailants, including the Queen who shrieked and screamed as her throat was severed in a jagged line. The one remaining Wraith made to run, but Jen had drawn the pistol and the laser found the creature's back after it had only taken three steps.

There was a silence after such a moment of explosive and rapidly efficient violence. Jen stood motionless, aware only of her heightened breathing. Then she disarmed the pistol, stuck it into her belt again and made her way over to the cell.

'Just 'all right', huh?' Sheppard muttered to Ronon, unable to entirely mask the look of shock on his face.

'She's better with the knives,' Ronon remarked dryly, enjoying his team leader's surprise.

Jennifer activated the cell door censor and it slid aside with a hiss. Using her last knife, she swiftly cut their bindings and then handed Ronon his pistol, but not before she'd twirled it deftly round on her fingers so the butt was end up. It was a gesture Sheppard recognised only too well.

'Training has gone well I see, doc,' he couldn't resist saying, one eyebrow raised wryly.

'Colonel,' was all Jen said as Ronon took the pistol, his eyes warm and amused as he looked down at her.

Sheppard noticed the doctor return this look almost imperceptively, before turning back to the various Wraith lying dead on the floor. She began retrieving her knives, yanking them out of the hideous carcasses and replacing them on her belt after giving each a cursory wipe.

'Where did you get those?' Rodney McKay snapped at Jennifer and tried his hardest to stop gaping.

'They were a present,' Jen replied absently, her head to one side listening to an eerie wailing emanating from deep inside the hive ship, 'that means they're on the move,' she added with a real sense of urgency.

'We should be too, c'mon,' Sheppard leapt into action, 'where are the rest of our weapons, doc?'

'This way,' Jen indicated one particular darkened hall way.

'A present?' McKay burbled in disbelief, 'who gives a woman knives as a gift?' He noticed Ronon looking at him oddly and nodded, understanding, 'ah, I should have known,'

Later on the puddlejumper, Ronon put one arm round Jen's shoulders and drew her into his side. She smiled up at him, hugging the big Satedan back affectionately. McKay saw this gesture and rolled his eyes, turning away with a slight groan.

'You did good,' Ronon told her in a low voice, their faces close.

'Thank you,' Jen acknowledged softly, 'I had a good teacher,' she added, flushing a little at his proximity.

'My finest student,' he murmured, thinking how badly he wanted to kiss her right then and wondering how she'd react if he did.

'I was very, very scared,' Jen admitted to him, looking down for a moment at this confession. Ronon placed a finger under her chin, lifting her face again.

'You still came for us though,' he observed.

'Because you would have done the same,' Jen replied, 'so I had to really, well that's how I saw it…kind of, I think anyway,'

The finger under her chin turned into a warm caress down one of Jen's cheeks. Very slowly, Ronon bent his lips to meet hers in a deliberate and sensual kiss. Jen felt a distinct thrill of pleasure course through her at his touch, yielding willingly to the gentle but insistent pressure of Ronon's mouth. She was barely aware of one of her hands entwining itself with his free one.

'Oh please!' Rodney's exasperated exclamation sounded in the background in their direction.

They broke off, but didn't look at the scientist, instead just looked at each other with foreheads touching. McKay tutted when they ignored him, wondering privately why it was always everyone but him who got the girl.

'Later?' Ronon suggested to Jen quietly.

'Yes,' she agreed simply, still grinning at him.


End file.
